Campaigners protested today against proposals to build to a play area next to a railway line as part of a new housing development.

They fear children's lives will be put at risk if proposals by social housing company Cartrefi Cymunedol Gwynedd (CCG) to build 24 houses in Llanwnda in Gwynedd are given the go-ahead in their current form.

But Gwynedd Council planning chiefs are satisfied with the proposals and have recommended them for approval, while CCG bosses insist there are measures to ensure children's safety, which include an anti-climb fence more than two metres high.

Today parents, children and locals turned up at the site with banners to protest.

Protest at Dinas, Llanwnda over proposals to build 24 houses with a play area next to a railway - Maisey with her poster (Image: Arwyn Roberts)

Protester Cathryn MacKay, a mum-of-two, said: "Nobody has an objection to the houses and we would want to welcome anybody who moves into them.

"But our issue is with the location of the play area next to the railway line, which we fear could put children's lives in danger.

"We believe there are other ways to draw up the plans to put it in a more appropriate and safer place."

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The proposals were deferred by Gwynedd councillors at a planning meeting in January this year to discuss concerns with the applicant and relocating the play area.

But the plans will come before the committee again on Monday, February 11, with the recreational space still in the same area.

Protest at Dinas, Llanwnda over proposals to build 24 houses with a play area next to a railway (Image: Arwyn Robert)

Aeron Jones, county councillor for Llanwnda, said: "They lost at the previous meeting and I hope that the elected members who sit on the planning committee will again support the residents and myself in refusing this application on the grounds that children’s safety is more important than houses."

Ffrancon Williams, chief executive of CCG, said: "We've drawn up plans to take into consideration all measures to ensure the safety of any youngsters using the open space within this scheme.

“It’s a mixed tenure development, providing affordable housing to rent and to buy, giving residents a range of housing opportunities in line with Gwynedd Council’s housing strategy, our own development strategy and the Welsh Government’s aim to build 20,000 new homes in Wales by 2021."